KanCare Expansion Advocates Emboldened By Tuesday’s Election Results

David Jordan, director of the Alliance for a Healthy Kansas, and other Medicaid expansion advocates see promise in election results this week in Maine and Virginia. They plan to press lawmakers to expand KanCare during the 2018 session.FILE PHOTO / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE

Medicaid expansion advocates say Kansas policymakers should take notice of elections this week in Maine and Virginia.

In the Virginia governor’s race, Ralph Northam, a Democrat who supported expansion, handily defeated Ed Gillespie, a Republican who didn’t, in a race where nearly 40 percent of voters cited health care as a top issue.

Kansas doesn’t have an initiative and referendum process, so expansion advocates can’t force a statewide vote on the issue. But they will continue their efforts to win legislative approval of an expansion bill, said David Jordan, director of the pro-expansion Alliance for a Healthy Kansas.

“It’s clear from our polling that over three-quarters of Kansans support expanding KanCare,” Jordan said, adding that this week’s election results show that voters will “reward candidates” who support expansion.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed an expansion bill in March that would have made approximately 150,000 low-income adults eligible for KanCare coverage. Lawmakers attempted to override the veto but fell a few votes short.

When the 2018 session convenes in January, advocates may attempt to gain support among lawmakers concerned about the cost of expansion by proposing an increase in the state’s tobacco tax to pay for it, Jordan said.

Even so, advocates hope that Colyer’s perceived need to differentiate himself from the unpopular Brownback ahead of the 2018 election might prompt him to reconsider.

If that is a possibility, Colyer gave no indication of it during a recent interview. When asked about polls showing broad support for expansion among Kansas voters, he said, “It depends on how you ask Kansans the question.”

“What Kansans have made clear is that they don’t want more government, they want smaller government,” Colyer said. “But they want results.”